Product Description

Before he was a world-renowned children's book writer, Roald Dahl was a master of short stories for adults. The eleven tales collected here represent his finest work. By turns shocking, ironic, humorous, and touching, these stories are filled with bizarre twists and unexpected delights, and prove Roald Dahl's standing as one of the world's foremost storytellers. Readers will be spellbound from the opening lines.

"Packed with imaginative characters, quirky plots, and surprise endings, these eleven gems are the kinds of stories readers will want to share with their friends." (Children's Literature)

"These stories offer teens a superbly crafted, satisfying read." (Booklist)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1144632 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Amazon.com
"'This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I'm afraid,' he said." With those words, Patrick Maloney seals his fate. He has no idea that his mousy wife, Mary, isn't about to take his abandonment of their marriage lightly. He never sees the frozen leg of lamb that hits him squarely in the noggin. And he'll never know how tidily Mary cleans up the evidence--by having the local police dine on the murder weapon! The late Roald Dahl, best known for children's novels such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also wrote many wonderfully wicked short stories, like the aforementioned "Lamb to the Slaughter," collected in Skin, a succinct, darkly humorous anthology for teen readers. Besides the murderous Mary Maloney, a host of other odd characters will leave teens gasping with surprise or chuckling with guilty laughter. In "The Surgeon," Dr. Robert Sandy is given a priceless diamond in exchange for saving a life, promptly loses it, then recovers it again from the strangest of places. "An African Story" chronicles a lonely mountain hermit's bid for revenge that involves a deadly black mamba snake, and "The Sound Machine" describes how a wacky inventor nearly drives himself mad when he creates a contraption that allows him to pick up noises outside the human range of hearing. There is something for the naughty side of everyone in this Twilight Zone-ish compilation, a recommended read for fans of Dahl's other teen short-story collection, The Umbrella Man. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly
This volume collects 11 of the master storyteller's short stories, many of which first appeared in Someone Like You, and also includes "The Surgeon," originally published in Playboy in 1986. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7-11. These bizarre, fascinating, and sophisticated short stories, selected from Dahl's body of adult writings, are the perfect foil for the traditional tomes used in high-school English classes. Full of irony and unexpected twists, they smack of the master's touch--every word carefully chosen, characters fully fleshed out in only a few pages, the sense of place immediate. Readers of "Skin" can easily imagine the derelict's large tattoo, signed in red ink by a "now-famous" artist, as well as the poor man's future. An Africa few will ever know is the backdrop for "An African Story," about tortuous revenge. Interestingly, some of the stories seem to have given rise to current urban legends: in "Lamb to the Slaughter," a young wife who kills her philandering husband with a frozen leg of lamb feeds the luscious murder weapon to the police. These 13 stories offer teens a superbly crafted, satisfying read that will meet an English teacher's demand for quality as well as a student's desire for intrigue and brevity. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

TOO GOOD
Very good. Beyond words to describe..so i won't heheh =)

I liked it very much.

Why Do You All Think This is a Kids' Book?
Dahl wrote for children as well as for grown-ups. Stop freaking out because this book isn't Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It's excellent.

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED
I purchased this book in the belief that these stories would acually be macabre; instead they are only darkly humorous if even that. But this is Dahl, so my expectations were lowered from the beggining-although "Beware of Dog" was good. A particualary weak hearted reviewer gave this book one star because it was "horrifying" -heh heh heh. If one can't take this, I'd advise not to buy horror movies or you'll suffer a heart failure. The truth is cruel.